Jenson Button racing at Daytona 24 Hours this weekend – all Hypercar entries

The circuit racing season begins in earnest this weekend down in the humid climes of Daytona, Florida – with the temperature rising on track as well.

Jenson Button, Alex Palou, Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson will race among a star-studded field of 10 hyper car entires at this weekend’s 62nd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, one of sports car racing’s biggest prizes.

Read on to see all the team entries and their drivers.

 

Chip Ganassi Racing – No1

Cadillac V-Series.R

• Sébastien Bourdais
• Renger van der Zander
• Scott Dixon
• Alex Palou

As far as star-studded motor sport line-ups go, there’s little in racing that matches the Chip Ganassi Cadillac entry at Daytona this year.

12 IndyCar titles are spread across the No1 – six for Scott Dixon, four for Sébastien Bourdais and two for reigning champion Alex Palou. Dixon is also a three-time overall winner at Daytona and a class podium at Le Mans.

Bourdais too has a class win at Le Mans – like Dixon driving for Ganassi in the Ford GT – but has also finished second at Le Mans three times.

While Palou is currently the pre-eminent force in IndyCar, Renger van Der Zander is fairly handy too: twice overall winner at Daytona, a championship class winner in IMSA in 2016 with 18 race wins in total.

 

---

Action Express Racing – No31

Cadillac V-Series.R 

• Pipo Derani
• Jack Aitken
• Tom Blomqvist

The No31 Cadillac, which claimed victory at last year’s Sebring 12 Hours on its way to winning the GTP title, has some serious sports car pedigree in its ranks too.

A double IMSA champion, Pipo Derani has two Daytona wins to his name as well as five at Sebring. Joining him from the Meyer Shank squad, which made a quiet IMSA exit following its contravening of the rules to win at Daytona last year, is Tom Blomqvist.

The son of rally legend Stig, the younger Blomqvist in fact has two victories at the Florida classic, as well taking the IMSA in 2022.

The third driver for Action Express will be Jack Aitken, a one-time F1 supersub who won at Sebring last year with Derani and Alexander Sims.

 

---

Porsche Penske Motorsport – No 6

Porsche 963

• Nick Tandy
• Mathieu Jaminet
• Kevin Estre
• Laurens Vanthoor

No6 Porsche lead man Nick Tandy trails a stellar record of sports car success. A Le Mans-winner in 2015 in the unfancied Porsche LMP1 entry with Nico Hülkenberg and Earl Bamber, the Brit also has victories at the Nürburgring and Spa 24 Hour races as well as three class wins at Sebring.

Jaminet, Estre and Vanthoor all have considerable sports car experience in the GT categories for Porsche. Jaminet won the GTD Pro class title in 2022, including a Daytona class win and last year took two overall class wins for Penske Porsche.

Estre took the 2018-19 WEC title for Porsche in the LMGTE Pro class, taking eight race wins overall for the manufacturer.

 

---

Porsche Penske Motorsport – No 7

Porsche 963

• Felipe Nasr
• Dane Cameron
• Josef Newgarden
• Matt Campbell

Felipe Nasr had a raw deal in Formula 1. Despite scoring points on his debut for the underperforming Sauber team, then finishing in the top ten in six other races that season, he found himself without a drive for 2017 – but has since come roaring back to establish himself as one of IMSA’s best drivers.

Taking the overall IMSA title in 2018 and 2021 for Cadillac, Nasr has since moved over to lead Porsche Penske’s GTP charge, winning at Road America last year.

He’ll join forces with Dane Cameron, one of the most experienced and successful active drivers in IMSA. The Californian secured the GTD on the first attempt in 2013, the Prototype category in 2016 and the the DPi crown in 2019. Not bad.

Matt Campbell, another IMSA champion with the 2022 GTD title to his name, lines up alongside but the headline name is Josef Newgarden – the double IndyCar champion and last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner. With 29 IndyCar victories to his name, the Nashville native is looking for success in sports cars too.

 

---

Proton Competition – No 5

Porsche 963

• Gianmaria Bruni
• Neel Jani
• Romain Dumas
• Alessio Picariello

Gianmaria Bruni has been around so long he was driving for VISA Cash App RB when it was still called Minardi, but has since proved himself to be a force in endurance racing.

The Italian won on his GT class debut at Le Mans in 2007, and has been a winner in sports cars ever since. He’s been top in the La Sarthe GT class four times and is a double WEC champion.

Driving with Bruni will be 2016 overall Le Mans winner Neel Jani, who also secured the top spot in the WEC title race, while driving the Porsche 919.

While double European Le Mans Series GT champion Alessio Picariello is the relative youngster in the group at 30, the man completing the team is an all-round racing ace: Romain Dumas.

Not satisfied with winning Le Mans twice in 2010 and ’16, the Frenchman has a love for off-road competition, and has arrived in Daytona fresh from his eighth Dakar Rally.

 

---

JDC-Miller – No 83

Porsche 963

• Tijmen van der Helm
• Richard Westbrook
• Phil Hanson
• Ben Keating

19-year-old Tijmen van der Helm is rapidly making a name for himself as a hardened endurance racer. The Dutchman finished second on his debut in the European Le Mans series before being transferred to the SportsCar Championship in 2023 — IMSA’s flagship class — where he finished an impressive ninth in the championship standings.

Driving with van der Helm will be Phil Hanson — another young superstar who became the first driver to win the FIA World Endurance Championship (LMP2), European Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours (LMP2) all in the same year in 2020.

But racing at Daytona requires experience too. Both Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating have a rich history of success in endurance racing, with the former having scored two podium finishes at Le Mans as well as a victory at the 12 hours of Sebring, while the latter won three consecutive IMSA Michelin Endurance Cups from 2017-2019.

 

---

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti — No 10 

Acura ARX-06

• Ricky Taylor
• Filipe Albuquerque
• Brendon Hartley
• Marcus Ericsson

Marcus Ericsson and Brendon Hartley may have both had a difficult stints behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, but have each found overwhelming success elsewhere.

In 2022, four years after losing his F1 seat at Sauber, Ericsson won the Indy 500 with Andretti Global and later secured another IndyCar victory at the St Petersburg GP. In 2023, Hartley became one of the most accomplished endurance drivers in the world, winning the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota and finishing second in 24 hour races at Le Mans and Daytona.

Joining them will be Filipe Albuquerque, a former Red Bull test driver who won the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona with Audi and later clinched the WEC LMP2 championship with United Autosports alongside a class win at Le Mans in 2020.

Ricky Taylor completes his father Wayne Taylor Racing’s driver foursome and brings with him numerous race wins and a deserved title in the Prototype series as well as runner-up awards in the WeatherTech Championship (2021 and 2022).

 

---

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti — No 40

Acura ARX-06

• Jordan Taylor
• Louis Deletraz
• Colton Herta
• Jenson Button

Wayne Taylor’s No10 entrant is headlined by a unique blend of talent — from a Formula 1 champion of the past to a possible grand prix title-winner of the future.

Jenson Button already has the silverware, thanks to that 2009 F1 title win with Brawn. The Briton also found race-winning success with Honda and McLaren and has since become involved in numerous other motor racing categories, including DTM, British GT and Extreme E.

IndyCar star Colton Herta will be hoping to follow in Button’s footsteps and has made a serious impression in IndyCar, becoming the series’ youngest race winner and pole sitter. The American is also a two-time Daytona 24 Hours class winner, making him a valuable asset for this weekend’s action alongside Jordan Taylor who has also won the event before — first in 2019 and then again in 2021.

Louis Deletraz joins the team as a reigning WEC LMP2 champion after last season with Team WRT, where he took class victories at the 6 Hours of Spa, the 6 Hours of Fuji, and the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

 

---

BMW M Team RLL — No 24

BMW M Hybrid V8

• Augusto Farfus
• Jesse Krohn
• Dries Vanthoor
• Philipp Eng

The No24 driver line-up is largely homegrown, save for Dries Vanthoor who signed with BMW Motorsport at the end of 2022 to bolster its sports car line-up. The 2017 GTE AM Le Mans winner joins former Formula Renault and Formula 3000 champion Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng who have years of experience racing with the Munich manufacturer in GT categories.

While the line-up may lack the star quality of other teams, there’s no doubting the depth of experience, with four Daytona 24 Hours GT victories between them.

 

---

BMW M Team RLL — No 25

BMW M Hybrid V8

• Connor de Philippi
• Nick Yelloly
• Maxime Martin
• Rene Rast

Best known for his accomplishments with Audi where he won three DTM titles, René Rast has switched to its German rival BMW with a Hypercar seat for the 2023 WEC season; this weekend’s Daytona GTP driver serving as an aperitif.

He’s not lacking experience in the discipline — an LMP2 campaign in 2022 delivered Rast two victories — and neither are his team-mates. Connor de Philippi can count a Daytona 24 Hours GT win among six IMSA victories while Maxime Martin has taken top spot at the 2018/’19 6 Hours of Spa (LMGTE Pro class) and the 2019/’20 24 Hours of Le Mans (LMGTE Pro class).

34-year-old Nick Yelloy — who also acts as a test and simulator driver for the Aston Martin F1 team — completes the line-up and will hope to replicate the success he found with De Philippi in 2023 as the co-winners of Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.